Bulls to play in Dayton in 2026, Flyers return game in Tampa in 2027

TAMPA, June 3, 2026 – South Florida Head Men's Basketball Coach Chris Mack today announced the Bulls will play a home-and-home series vs. the University of Dayton starting in the 2026-27 season.

The second announced opponent on the Bulls' 2026-27 schedule, South Florida will travel to Dayton, Ohio to take on the Flyers on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 13,409-seat UD Arena, which has been the longtime home of the NCAA Tournament's First Four.

The Flyers will return the game at the Yuengling Center in Tampa in the early part of the 2027-28 season.

The two-game series with Dayton is the second announced under Mack, who was named South Florida's 13^th head men's basketball coach in March. The Bulls earlier announced a home-and-home series with DePaul that will begin in Chicago on Nov. 5, 2026, with a return game scheduled for Tampa in the early part of the 2027-28 season.

A member of the Atlantic-10 Conference, Dayton went 25-12 last year before falling in the A-10 Tournament championship game to VCU. The Flyers went on to play in the NIT, winning a pair of games before falling in the quarterfinals. The Flyers have made 19 NCAA Tournament and 28 NIT appearances.

The Flyers lead the all-time series with the Bulls, 4-2, but the teams have not played since a game in the 1997 San Juan Shootout, which UD won 72-61. UD and USF first played in the 1973-74 campaign, with the Flyers wining an overtime game, 79-77, in Tampa. The Bulls are 1-1 in Dayton, last playing there in 1977 and falling 86-58.

The Bulls welcomed 15 new players in Mack's first season at the helm as South Florida returned no players from the 2025-26 squad that went 25-9, reached the NCAA tournament and won an American Conference title (claiming both the regular season and tournament crowns) for the second time in three years. The Bulls reloaded with 12 transfer portal additions and three high school signees. The portal class features four players with a composite rating of .9100 or higher and a four-star rating, according to 247Sports. The Bulls' average transfer rating of 89.00 ranks third among Group of 6 programs, while the overall class ranked among the top 10 nationally among the Group of 6 according to 247Sports.

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About USF Men's Basketball
South Florida men's basketball named Chris Mack as the program's 13th head coach on March 25, 2026. Mack came to Tampa after a pair of 20-win seasons at the College of Charleston. With more than 300 career wins, he brought a career winning percentage of nearly 68 percent to South Florida, including 12 20-win seasons and nine NCAA Tournament appearances. He led both Xavier and Louisville to the NCAA Tournament and made four Sweet 16 appearances and one Elite Eight with Xavier.
 
The program, entering its 56^th season in 2026-27, won American Conference regular-season championships in 2024 and 2026 and claimed the conference tournament title in 2026. The Bulls have made 14 postseason appearances, including four NCAA Tournaments (the last in 2026), nine NITs, and a CBI championship in 2019. Three former Bulls players – Chucky Atkins, Charlie Bradley, and Rodenko Dobras – have had their jerseys retired and are members of the USF Athletic Hall of Fame, while two coaches – Amir Abdur-Rahim (2023-24) and Bobby Paschal (1986-96) – join them in the Hall of Fame.
 
The Bulls play their home games at the 10,400-seat Yuengling Center on the USF Tampa campus.